Steve Barker is hoping Stellenbosch's success can help keep star players in the Winelands

Stellenbosch FC coach Steve Barker is trusting that his team’s achievements this past season will help him keep the core of his squad.

Stellies were runners-up in the MTN8 competition, reached the last four of the CAF Confederation Cup, and are set to replicate their third-place Betway Premiership finish again.

This success has been a double-edged sword for Stellies in the past though with leading players such as Ashley du Preez and Zitha Kwinika (both Kaizer Chiefs), Deano van Rooyen (Orlando Pirates) along with Junior Mendietta, Jayden Adams and Iqraam Rayners (all Mamelodi Sundowns) being lured up north to the Highveld trio. 

Barker is expected to lose another stalwart in captain Fawaaz Basadien to one of the Soweto giants at the end of this season, but is now hoping that his players can feel that something big is brewing in Stellenbosch. 

“Sustained success means you've got to keep doing what you're doing but find ways to be better doing and what you're doing,” Barker said ahead of the Betway Premiership encounter against Chippa United at the Danie Craven Stadium on Wednesday.

“Hopefully we can continue to attract good players and hopefully we can maybe retain more of our players you know going forward. 

“We are playing in Confed and we are getting far in tournaments. Sometimes players need to look at this club and say, ‘You know it's not a club that maybe I want to leave because it's a club that has the opportunity to be really successful.’”

Stellies have certainly missed Rayners’ razor sharpness in front of goal, especially across the two CAF semifinal legs where they failed to find the back of the against Simba FC. 

Rayners has instead transferred his form to Sundowns where the Bafana Bafana striker has banged in 16 goals in 36 matches across all competitions. 

Barker, however, feels that Lehlogonolo Bradley Mojela’s long term injury along with former Cape Town Spurs striker Ashley Cupido tearing a hamstring against AmaZulu in the week ahead of the semi-final had a bigger impact. 

“I think Bradley would have got really good numbers over the season. I think he would have got the similar numbers to what Rayners did. So we were a little bit unlucky with his long-term injury,” Barker said.

“And I think to be fair to Ashley, he's in the last three four months he's shown some good signs for us. It's never easy coming from a team that got relegated and coming into a team that's challenging at the top end of the table. 

“So he had started imposing himself and doing a job so unfortunately got injured with a hamstring against AmaZulu.”

The goalscoring will therefore be left to Devon Titus and Andre de Jong in the all-important clash against Chippa United as Stellies look to get back into CAF Confederation Cup contention for next season.